The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 17, 2020
Filed:
Dec. 11, 2017
The University of North Carolina AT Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Board of Regents, the University of Texas System, Austin, TX (US);
Statoil Gulf Services Llc, Houston, TX (US);
Pabitra N. Sen, Berkeley, CA (US);
Alfred Kleinhammes, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Yue Wu, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Michele O'Callaghan, Houston, TX (US);
Mohsen Ahmadian-Tehrani, Austin, TX (US);
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM, Austin, TX (US);
STATOIL GULF SERVICES LLC, Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
Hydraulic fracturing of a geological formation is performed by injection of a proppant mixture into the geological formation to form fractures in the geological formation. The proppant mixture includes at least a liquid, proppant, and proppant additive particles. The hydraulic fracturing results in a presence of the proppant additive particles within the formed fractures, wherein the proppant additive particles are configured with a first complex conductivity that is measurably different than a second complex conductivity exhibited by materials comprising the geological formation. The formed fractures can then be imaged and mapped in the geological formation with electromagnetic energy at one or more frequencies in a manner so that the proppant additive particles function as a contrast agent due to the first complex conductivity of the proppant additive particles being measurably different from the second complex conductivity. The complex conductivity includes a real conductivity and an imaginary conductivity.